Lin Gui flew over Shadowmoon City.
He sat astride his staff, eyes scanning the purple ruins below.
He was looking for the hunters.
Were they in Shadowmoon City?
He wasn't sure.
If they weren't, he would head straight to the next stop.
If they were...
He didn't mind venting some frustration on behalf of those angry residents in Whitestone City.
Fortunately.
He soon found a trail.
Near a half-collapsed elven temple on the western side of Shadowmoon City.
Several campfires were burning in an open space.
Figures shifted in the distance.
Lin Gui lowered his altitude, hiding in the building's shadows.
His Eyes of the Netherworld quietly opened.
His vision instantly cleared.
The numbers were wrong; there weren't five.
There were ten.
In addition to the five scar-faced hunters, there were five more individuals who didn't look like they had good intentions.
The five hunters sat around a fire, gnawing on dry rations.
The other five...
Were standing guard alertly by several large iron cages wrapped tightly in black cloth.
The iron cages were tall and heavy.
Faint bumping sounds came from under the black cloth.
And... suppressed sobbing.
The hunters' faces showed fatigue, but their excitement was hard to hide.
The scar-faced assassin was speaking in low tones with another unfamiliar face.
The stranger wore a heavy fur coat and had a longsword at their waist.
Their aura... was also that of a High-tier Transcendent.
Lin Gui's gaze darkened.
The sudden increase in people made the difficulty climb significantly.
In a corner beside them.
Lin Gui saw three elderly people.
They weren't the two dying individuals from Whitestone City.
These were new faces.
Skinny and aged, with their ankles bound by hemp ropes, they huddled in the snow, shivering.
Likely, these were guides "replenished" from other nodes by the other group of hunters.
Beside these old people.
Three iron cages shrouded in black cloth stood silently.
Lin Gui's gaze fell upon those cages.
The bars were as thick as a child's arm and pitch black, their surfaces etched with intricate, dark red runes.
Those were binding arrays specifically used to imprison slaves.
Seeing this, Lin Gui was certain.
This group consisted of slave hunters.
Back in Whitestone City, when he saw their attire and heard their disdain for bounty hunters...
Lin Gui had his suspicions.
Seeing the iron cages now wasn't surprising.
Except...
He frowned.
Why choose the path through the Wall of Sighs?
This route carried extreme risk; spectral demons ran rampant, and the mist was eerie.
It was far less "safe" than conventional wilderness routes.
What did they hope to gain by hunting slaves on this road?
Just then.
The glass bead in his pocket trembled violently.
Clotina's soul-shadow flew out without warning.
She stared intently at those iron cages below.
Her gaze locked onto one of them.
Through a gap in the black cloth, a lock of long black hair poked out.
And... a long, pointed ear.
"That's..."
Clotina's voice was shaking.
"Elves of the Night Clan... those animals!"
Her eyes were filled with fury, her soul body trembling slightly.
However, when she looked through the gap and saw the elven face inside clearly.
Clotina froze.
Lin Gui had thought she would rush down like the elves in Deepwood Outpost.
But the expected outburst didn't happen.
He only saw a...
Surprised, lost, and even somewhat complex expression appear on Clotina's face.
Behind him, Eve's voice rang out softly:
"The difficulty has doubled."
"In my perception, there are two High-tier Transcendents, five Mid-tier Transcendents, and three Low-tier Transcendents below."
Lin Gui's gaze swept over the scene below.
"It's more than doubled."
His voice was very calm.
"These new arrivals... include a priest, a mage, and even a scout."
"The team composition is complete."
"The level of trouble is even higher... than Caesar's group that plotted to assassinate the Saintess."
Eve turned her head to look at him:
"Do you need my help?"
"No, I can handle it alone."
Taking a glance, Lin Gui's strength was at the High-tier High Rank.
Looking at the hunters below, their average strength was at the Transcendent Rank.
A High-tier High Rank saying he can handle ten Transcendents alone.
It sounded like a fool without self-awareness, a weakling filled with arrogance.
But for Lin Gui, Eve thought it was only natural.
Eve asked curiously.
"Then how do you plan to do it?"
Lin Gui's gaze fell on the three bound old men in the corner.
Eve understood instantly.
"You want to kill those guides while they're traveling through the mist."
"Leave them to walk through the Wall of Sighs naked..."
"To be torn apart by the invisible spectral demons?"
Lin Gui looked back at her, speechless:
"Even if they're people on the verge of death, you shouldn't just take their lives at will, Miss Saintess."
"Besides, there are elves in the cages."
"By your method, they'd have to be buried with them too."
"It's not worth it, Miss Saintess."
Eve heard the sarcasm in his words and her smile deepened.
"Then, most merciful Lord Holy Saint, what do you plan to do?"
Am I being mocked?
Lin Gui thought, exasperated.
Hanging the word "merciful" on him was no different from calling him a "bleeding heart."
Shaking off the annoyance in his heart, Lin Gui looked back at the elves in the cages below.
If those elves weren't there...
He did plan to move against the guides while the hunters were in transit.
Not killing them, but stealing them away.
Let this group of hunters experience the horror of the Wall of Sighs for themselves in the middle of it.
Stealing away the dying wasn't difficult.
The hunters' vigilance and care toward the dying people who held their lives in their hands were minimal.
After all, in this ghostly place, there probably wasn't another living soul besides them.
And no high-and-mighty Transcendent adult would bother to look after a few old men on their deathbeds.
Furthermore, their current team strength was exceptionally powerful.
It was enough to sweep through some small city-states.
For example, in New Covenant City, Lin Gui's strength had been only at the Low-tier High Rank.
Even that rank was enough to make a name for oneself in New Covenant City.
So, they were confident that no one would dare to provoke them.
This made it easier for Lin Gui to move against these old men, who were ignored yet critically important.
It would be easy for Lin Gui to steal the guides.
But those iron cages containing the elves...
Were a major problem.
They were too large, and moving them would create a stir.
Once they moved, they would be noticed immediately.
Lin Gui pondered for a moment, then sat on his staff and floated closer silently.
He stopped beside the nearest iron cage, using the building's shadow for cover.
He peered inside.
Three elves were locked in the cage.
They were all adult males with black hair and black eyes.
Typical characteristics of Night Elves.
They huddled at the bottom of the cage, their clothes in tatters and barely covering their bodies.
On their exposed skin, old and new wounds intertwined.
Whip marks, burns, and marks that looked like they were torn by claws.
Their hair was as dry and brittle as dead grass, sticking to their gaunt cheeks.
One person's finger joints were unnaturally twisted.
Clearly, they had been broken.
Another person had a deep, bone-deep wound on his leg that had been hastily bandaged and was already festering.
The ankles and wrists of all three were bound by heavy shackles, the edges of which had rubbed raw, forming deep red scabs.
What caught Lin Gui's attention most.
Behind their necks and on their shoulder blades, there were subtle magic brands.
Those were restraints specifically designed to cripple an elf's natural mana flow.
It severed their last possibility of resistance.
Their eyes were empty.
There was no fury, no fear.
Only a dead, numb silence.
Occasionally, one of them would twitch unconsciously.
A raspy sound came from their throat, like a leaking bellows.
Lin Gui watched silently; it wasn't surprising that there wasn't a single female elf inside.
In the slave market, handsome male elves were often more expensive than females.
He didn't know about this at first.
Not until Elvia mentioned it during a chat once, her tone carrying a hint of mockery:
"That eldest sister of mine, Princess Diana."
"Spent ten billion gold coins just to buy one male elf."
While the status of women among the nobles of Akara was generally low...
There were always a few who possessed incredible influence and wealth.
And their extravagance when it came to "enjoyment."
Was legendary.
Rate on N.U.
